Footwear is a multibillion dollar industry. Women, in particular, contribute to a large portion of footwear sales in the U.S. The ornamental appearance of footwear has always been an important reason for purchasing footwear and it has become increasingly popular for people to personalize their footwear with various shoe ornaments.
Decorative shoe ornaments have been known in the art for many years. However, current decorative shoe ornaments have several disadvantages including, but not limited to, ornamentation that damages the shoe in order for it to be attached to the shoe, stability of attachment to the shoe, limitation as to the position of the ornamentation on the shoe, limitations as to the type of shoe that can be adorned, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,151 to Rowland discloses a shoe ornament locking clip apparatus which has a shoe ornament attached to a removeable locking clip that locks into a bar that is connected to the shoe at the time of manufacture. This apparatus has the disadvantage of having part of the apparatus installed in the shoe at the time of manufacture. This part of the apparatus, the bar, is not able to be removed from the shoe thus its original positioning is permanent. The bar not being able to be removed from the shoe means that even if there is no shoe ornament attached to it, the shoe would have a bar through it which many would find undesirable as it alters the appearance of the shoe permanently.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,069,538 to Wilcox discloses an apparatus for attaching ornaments to shoes, clothing, pet collars, etc. This apparatus features different interchangeable ornaments, however the apparatus consists of two parts that are connected via a twist-lock mechanism. In order for this apparatus to be used, there must be a hole or other opening in the article through which the two pieces attach or a hole must be created in the shoe thus permanently damaging the shoe. This is undesirable since many people would prefer their shoes not to be materially altered by placing a hole through a portion of the shoe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,612 to Ransbottom discloses a shoe adornment that is in the form of a band that fits around the ball area of a human foot so that the ornament is positioned at the throat of the shoe. This apparatus has the disadvantage of not being placed on the shoe itself but rather is positioned around the foot of the wearer which can be uncomfortable.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,658,020 to Yun discloses a shoe ornament for a laced shoe. This apparatus is comprised of a buckle designed to receive a shoe lace therethrough allowing an ornament to be installed in the instep area of a shoe. While the apparatus can be transferred between different shoes, it has the disadvantage of being limited to use with shoes having laces.
As illustrated above, the prior art has several disadvantages when it comes to providing customizable removeable ornaments for shoes. These disadvantages include the need for specially manufactured shoes; the need to materially alter the shoes; the limitations as to the type of shoe that the ornament can be used on; the stability of the ornament on the shoe; and the limitations as to the placement of the ornament on the shoe. Accordingly, what is needed is a removable shoe clasp that does not materially permanently alter the shoe and can be stably attached to different locations on a number of different types of shoes.